UPDATE: Here's Activision's statement on the matter:

Although we made a substantial investment in the Prototype IP, it did not find a broad commercial audience. Radical is a very talented team of developers, however, we have explored various options for the studio, including a potential sale of the business, and have made a difficult conclusion through the consultation process that the only remaining option is a significant reduction in staff. As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward.

--

Radical Entertainment appears to be no more.

A tweet from studio audio director Rob Bridgett made a brief but damning comment this afternoon.

“RIP Radical Entertainment 1991-2012,” said Bridgett.

This arrived amidst a series of rumors regarding the fate of the studio today.

The last game Radical worked on was the not-so-warmly received Prototype 2. Oddly enough, Radical Entertainment was mentioned in a press release just two days ago, having just implemented Hansoft’s production tools.

Activision has yet to comment on the news.

UPDATE: Here's Activision's statement on the matter:

Although we made a substantial investment in the Prototype IP, it did not find a broad commercial audience. Radical is a very talented team of developers, however, we have explored various options for the studio, including a potential sale of the business, and have made a difficult conclusion through the consultation process that the only remaining option is a significant reduction in staff. As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward.

--

Radical Entertainment appears to be no more.

A tweet from studio audio director Rob Bridgett made a brief but damning comment this afternoon.

“RIP Radical Entertainment 1991-2012,” said Bridgett.

This arrived amidst a series of rumors regarding the fate of the studio today.

The last game Radical worked on was the not-so-warmly received Prototype 2. Oddly enough, Radical Entertainment was mentioned in a press release just two days ago, having just implemented Hansoft’s production tools.

Activision has yet to comment on the news.

Well no shit...

Edit (my response also counts as my reaction to being first)

So what's left of the team is now a Call of Duty support team?

Man, this really sucks for Radical. I enjoyed Prototype 2.

I hope you duders find jobs soon.

Such bad news for the Canadian/Vancouver game dev scene =( Radical was one of the huge studios in Vancouver...

Best of luck to all its previous employees, hope to see some good news come out of this at some point.

Best of luck to those developers.

I never liked many of their games but don't wish that they lose their jobs. I played Incredible Hulk and got tired of it after about 10 minutes of throwing trucks around. Prototype would've been okay if it didn't have an unbeatable boss if you didn't spec right (which happened to me).

@Freezer_Burn said:

Man, this really sucks for Radical. I enjoyed Prototype 2.

Agreed, such great "dumb fun".

I liked their Crash Bandicoot game a lot more than Prototype.

But it is a real shame they had to be closed - though hardly a surprise, given who owns them.

I enjoyed being able to run up walls, jump, and glide in Prototype, just not much else.

The continuing story of what happens when good talent is forced to work on the wrong game.

This sucks whether you like the Prototype games or not (I love them both). Good luck, guys.

I'll preface by saying this does suck and I hate when people lose their job. 
 
That being said, they didn't make a lot of interesting things (at least recently). And I was a supporter of the first Prototype (I haven't played the second one yet). It was ok. I enjoyed it more than Infamous (even though they are not alike they kind of battled each other being somewhat similar). 
 
I don't know. I haven't played the second one yet, but while the mechanics are cool the game didn't do enough (in the first) to keep you interested all the way through. A large portion of side missions were really bad Olympic like challenges (run to check points, jump to this target, glide through the rings, etc.), or the same "destroy this" type objectives. It wasn't varied enough. 
 
I still want to play the second one though, at some point. 
 
It still sucks, but this is the nature of the Video Game industry now.

Sure either Prototype wasn't great but to be at the Call of Duty whim of Activision is a horrible fate.

Sad to hear. The Simpsons Hit & Run was my favorite Radical title.

Welp, Prototype doesn't really sell and we have enough studios making Call of Duty so better shut these guys down.

Ah, that's a bummer, I enjoyed both Prototype games. Nothing groundbreaking, but both had a lot of dumb, fun action.

I guess Activision couldn't afford that ivory backscratcher.

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

@Maystack said:

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

No it's not.

@Maystack said:

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

I'd say it is quickly collapsing.

Enjoy making call of duty map packs!

@Maystack said:

There seems to be a lot of companies shutting down recently. Is the games industry slowly collapsing? I don't want that to happen >.>

It's changing, not collapsing. It's beginning to seem like the middle-tier of games is being phased out. Soon we'll probably only see the massive-budget franchises and the indie games. There's just not enough of a place for the bigger games that sell just okay. It's why THQ is in so much trouble. They have a lot of pretty good games. Other than Saints Row, and really that's debatable, they don't have any massive franchises. It's not a remark on the quality of the games, THQ has put out some fantastic products, but they don't sell particularly well.

If you didn't want to shut down, then you shouldn't have made a bad video game!

How long until Activition only does Call of Duty, Spider-Man, Transformers, Skylanders, and 007 games? With the occasional Tony Hawk game, of course.

"As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward."

Sounds like the remnants of Radical Entertainment are going to be assisting on Call of Duty titles (most likely DLC) much like what happened to Raven software. I guess every Activision studio that doesn't maintain a successful IP gets put through the COD meat grinder nowadays.

So sorry to hear that. I feel like I was one of the few people who genuinely enjoyed Prototype.

Wish those guys the best, hope they land on their feet!

@Jeffsekai said:

If you didn't want to shut down, then you shouldn't have made a bad video game!

Oh man! What a great idea! Make a good game, instead of a crappy game! It's almost too easy! What was Radical Entertainment thinking!??!?!?!

This is sad news indeed. Good luck to the guys and gals that are now without a job.

@wisdumcube said:

"As such, some employees will remain working for Radical Entertainment supporting other existing Activision Publishing projects, but the studio will cease development of its own games going forward."

Sounds like the remnants of Radical Entertainment are going to be assisting on Call of Duty titles (most likely DLC) much like what happened to Raven software. I guess every Activision studio that doesn't maintain a successful IP gets put through the COD meat grinder nowadays.

And that just makes Activision seem a whole lot more like a cabal of scumbags. Raven Software was a good studio that put out good games. Radical put out good games. Now both of those once-good studios are stuck in the game development equivalent of working at a factory line pressing a button all day. How is this is any way okay? Why the fuck would anyone want to work for Activision when all they do is suck the soul right out of a place and turn everyone inside into autonomous drones only capable of texturing a M14-A1 for the next CoD map pack? Anyone remember Neversoft? Remember the good games they used to make?

Hopefully something changes over there, soon. I'd like to see a Beenox Spider-Man that wasn't rushed to shit at some point.

Thanks Jeff and thank you for Jackie Chan Stuntmaster Radical

Man you either do big blockbuster AAA game or small indie platformer if not then you die , that's harsh some of those B-tear games are better than the other 2 in the spectrum.

That is unfortunate, I really enjoyed the both Prototype games (not the narrative, but the mechanics were pretty good). I guess we will see someone like Beenox will have a take at the franchise probably next gen. Then again, I an not sure if for Activision the sale numbers were enough to even care about the IP anymore.

@AndrewB said:

The continuing story of what happens when good talent is forced to work on the wrong game.

This

Fuck, man that's disappointing. I really loved Simpsons, Hulk and both Prototypes. They made some great games that I truly enjoyed. Pouring one out.

Sad to see these guys go... but I can't help but wonder what will happen to the PC version of Prototype 2 now.

That's a bummer.

i understand why go into risky non fps games that cost more money when they can just slap some new shaders on CoD and ad some new weapons/gadgets and key chain like stuff with a couple new levels sell twice as much of it at least for 60 bucks a pop.

i would have dropped radical ent. too in this gamer's economy. i think this will be happening a lot more sadly if you don't have a game with a name that will sell like Halo, ME, CoD, BF ect. it will be ruff days for you good people breaking out of the norm.

Best of wishes to the crew and radical.

@DFSVegas said:

@Jeffsekai said:

If you didn't want to shut down, then you shouldn't have made a bad video game!

Oh man! What a great idea! Make a good game, instead of a crappy game! It's almost too easy! What was Radical Entertainment thinking!??!?!?!

I know right! Are they stupid or something!? They should've just called me cause I know how to make great games! Naive developers when will they learn!?!?

Man, that sucks.

Considering their best game (according to this here database) is Battle for Olympus for the NES I'm really not all that sad to see them go. Both Prototype games were also pretty awful past the initial 2-3 hours of fucking around with all the powers.

"We said you got one more shot at making a game thats not tentpole and if its not a hit you'll be working on CoD map packs."

1991-2012? Maybe not but all your money into one basket ey...

I loved the Hulk but wasn't down with the ultra violence of Prototype. They should've at least let them have a crack at Spiderman.

Making a AAA title is such a gamble anymore. We have seen a lot of studios shut down, or get considerably downsized, because they could not sell enough copies to justify the astronomical budgets.

Fuck. I really liked the Prototype games too.

The prototype games never appealed to me, so vile and hateful. Heard good things about Hulk: Ultimate Destruction though.

Hope everyone lands on their feet.

Oh no! These guys developed one of my favourite PS1 games: Jackie Chan Stuntmaster....

Why does anyone choose to work for Activision, making games? Is there anywhere else in the industry to work, and have less job security?

Anyone care to list the developers closed by Activision? I'm still sore about Bizzare Creations. The presence of Call of Duty has left a growing pile of IPs and developers in its wake, losing a lot of its original developers along the way.

I don't want to undermine my integrity by ignoring the Call of Duty games despite their quality, but they aren't groundbreaking anymore and giving them money seems to come at a greater cost.